The Hungarian referendum is not legally binding.  A European Commission spokeswoman told this website that the “decision making process agreed to by all EU member states and as enshrined in the treaties” would “remain the same” no matter how people voted in October.  But Zoltan Kovacs, the Orban government spokesman recently told journalists in Brussels, that the outcome of the vote “cannot be disregarded by the European Commission”. “The political implications are going to be considerable,” he added.  Slovak prime minister Robert Fico, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, also told press on Wednesday (6 June) that every EU leader has a sovereign right to call a referendum. He warned that if the EU does not reform itself swiftly enough, member states, backed by angry societies, could start to pick and unpick EU policies.

“My fear is that if over the next five to six months we are not successful in finding a solution for the functioning of the EU, then there would be an increasing … possibility of referendums in different areas,” Fico said.

BRUSSELS, 4. Sep, 20:44  The four Visegrad Group states - the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia - reaffirmed Friday (4 September) their opposition to quotas of refugee relocation between EU countries.  "Any proposal leading to [the] introduction of mandatory and permanent quotas as solidarity measures would be unacceptable”, the four prime ministers said in a statement after meeting in Prague.  The communique, which, the PMs say "will serve as a basis for co-ordinated positions" for the upcoming emergency meeting of EU justice and interior ministers on 14 September, as well as an EU summit in mid-October, puts them in direct opposition with Germany and France.  On Thursday, chancellor Angela Merkel and president Francois Hollande called for a "permanent and mandatory mechanism" to relocate asylum seekers in Europe.

The Visegrad countries are also at odds with the European Commission, which pushed for a relocation scheme for 40,000 asylum seekers earlier this year and is currently preparing a proposal for 120,000 more migrants.  Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is set to put forward the initiative on Wednesday (9 September) in his State of the Union address to the European Parliament.

A day after Hungarian PM Viktor Orban met with EU institution leaders in Brussels with no concrete measures taken, his Czech, Polish, and Slovak partners said that "as an expression of their solidarity, [they] stand ready to provide Hungary with further assistance."

The Czech and Slovak interior ministers told reporters they were ready to consider a train corridor for transporting Syrian refugees heading from Hungary to Germany, if Budapest and Berlin agree.

The banks were not allowed to fail. Greece is not allowed to fail. In our classrooms the children are not allowed to fail. Failure is a necessary part of life. It is essential if capitalism to succeed.
The lenders should not have provided the money and the Greeks should not have borrowed so heavily. Both should lose.Visitors to the Greek islands this year might conceivably begin their holidays with euros in their wallets and go home with drachmas. In between might come a tumultuous period when capital controls lead the cash machines to run dry – and the government suspends all movement in and out of the country.  Travel agents have sought to play down any concerns and reassure British holidaymakers. A spokesman for Thomas Cook said that all contingency plans were in place, adding: “We’re prepared for any scenario."   The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said there was no need for anyone presently heading for Greece to rebook for another destination. “Any switch to a new currency would take time and Euros would likely be accepted in the interim,” said a statement from ABTA. “This is an unusual situation - but the industry is experienced in handling unusual situations.”  The one piece of advice is that travelers should take enough cash in euros to last for their entire holiday – just in case the banks collapse halfway through a summer break.  Meanwhile, frantic efforts are underway to secure a deal between Greece and its creditors before the IMF payment falls due in 10 days’ time. The aim of the talks is to release enough of the €7.2 billion (£5.1 billion) in Greece’s existing bailout fund to allow the country to avoid a default. Popular support for the euro is creaking as the economy is thrown back into turmoil.  More than 210,000 Greek families have applied for meal coupons and free electricity since Syriza launched a humanitarian aid programme in April.  The jobless rate is also creeping up. Over one out of every four Greeks remain out of work.  Of the hordes of unemployed, over 70pc have been without a job for over a year. Athens and its environs hold the ignominious title of the long-term unemployment capital of Europe - worse than the poorest parts of rural Slovakia and Latvia.

Nominal GDP is now set shrink to its lowest level since 2003 this year, the riches of its early euro boom years all but wiped out. It is the deepest depression suffered by any developed economy in the modern era - eclipsing that witnessed in 1930's America.

When the leaders of three nations meet without ANY advisors for two hours and nothing good can be said, things are very very bad.  War? If it comes it would be the most foolish of wars ever fought.

It would only splinter the world and societies further. None predicted at the beginning of WWI that monarchies would be destroyed. That a new era had arrived. None now predict that a war would lead to the demise of some nation states as we know them. None seem to see that it would destroy (for good or bad) the structure of the world economic system as we know it.  Ah....but fear does unite a people and economies prosper in war. Merkel & Holland, desperate to appease Putin and desperately looking to make money from Russia are trying to force a disgraceful deal through that let's Putin get away with it AGAIN and forces Ukraine to be subservient to Russian aggression AGAIN.  Forget Germany and France we know their history BUT where is the UK and USA in directing AND standing up for freedoms and democratic rights in Europe. Germany and France are so worried about being invaded and occupied by Russia they will seek any deal that is good for them, or so they think and they will try and spoil any deal where Ukraine receives real actual useful help to enable Ukraine to defend itself.

PUTIN AND RUSSIA HAVE TOLD THE GERMAN'S AND THE FRENCH THAT THEY MUST LEAVE UKRAINE IN IT'S CURRENT STATE OF MILITARY CAPABILITY or RUSSIA WILL HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RUSSIAN EXCUSE OF ESCALLATION. 

Europe's central bankers appeared to calm jittery markets despite refusing to accelerate measures to support ailing eurozone economies in the aftermath of the Irish bailout.
The European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said he would keep giving banks unlimited liquidity well into next year but made no guarantee to step up the bond-buying to combat investor panic surrounding Portugal and Spain.
Investors initially sold the euro and increased the cost of insuring eurozone debts after Trichet's comments, but a closer reading of his remarks and analysis of market activity later showed that the ECB was involved in large-scale behind-the-scenes support to bond markets.If you ever played Monopoly, you learned that by managing your cash flow wisely, you could buy a bunch of houses and hotels -- and win. If you didn't manage it well, you might wind up in jail or penniless.
Small wonder that aside from bankruptcy and audit, the term cash flow is probably the most terrifying in an entrepreneur's dictionary. According to a survey by Intuit, 22 million of the nation's smallest business are waiting for approximately $1,500 in overdue payments every month, creating a $33 billion logjam on their cash flow. In the same survey, 42 percent of business owners said they stay up nights worrying about how quickly they will be paid.
Obviously, the money your customers give you is cash flowing "into" your business, and the checks you're writing to pay salaries, suppliers, utilities and others constitutes the cash flowing "out" of your business. And as entrepreneurs know, a positive cash flow is the holy grail for all business owners.BCE, Citigroup, Comisia Europeana, FMI, Federal Reserve, Germania, Grecia, Irlanda, Marea Britanie, PIB, Rusia, SUA, Spania, Standard & Poor's, Ungaria, Uniunea Europeana, economie, obligatiuni, zona euro